Upgrade from Viper V550?

[drjayphd]

I just upgraded to Windows 2000, and in the process, realized that my Diamond Viper V550 was causing the comp to hang on startup. After taking it out and replacing it with an S3ViRGE borrowed from my dad's older comp (Pentium 200), I can get Win2K to boot. I sure as hell do not want to bring this back to school with me in three weeks, so can anyone recommend a good, inexpensive upgrade from a V550? I'm looking at GeForce2MX's, but I don't see any familiar brands. I want to keep this under $100, preferably in the $50-$75 range. Can you recommend any good video cards in that price range that are an upgrade from the V550, a TnT-based card?

 

[sMashPiranha]

What are you planning on doing with this computer? If your only now upgrading from a tnt a Geforce2 MX should suffice. I don't know what prices are like for video cards in the US, but you should be able to get a Radeon for about the same price which are much better at 2D and similar in 3D performance (or better) to the MX.

 

[YaKuZa]

On my old computer, I had Win2k running on my v550. Make sure you install the correct drivers for it and you should be fine. But if you are going to upgrade, I guess a MX is a good idea.

 

[Workin']

You can get a GTS for what you want to spend, and it will spank the pants off any crippled MX card.

For $65 you can get the Visiontek Xtasy 5632 GeForce2 GTS-V from Newegg. I have that card in one of my machines and it can overclock easily to GTS speed and almost to GTS Pro speed. Even out of the box it will blow the doors off any MX.

 

[drjayphd]

Ooh. Sounds good. Not interested in overclocking, though. I'd much rather get this working perfectly first. But if I can do that for just $65, I think I'll go with that.

As for what I'd do with this comp, I use it for graphics and mostly strategy/emulated games, as well as watching DVD's and mastering the occasional CD (burning bootlegs and TV specials). Do those cards have DVD decoding? I have a K6/2-450 as the processor, and no decoder card. That setup plays DVD's with some skipping. An MX is probably overkill, never mind a GTS.

 

[Sestar]

Go with a decent ATI card, most any will do for basics like that. Just get one with a dvd decoder on it and there are plenty of decent ATI's for under 50$

 

[CorCentral]

That's what I upgraded from last year
Upgraded from the V550 to an Elsa Gladiac 32mb GTS . I saw these cards on the FOR SALE/TRADE forum going for $65. - $75. over a mth. ago .
Also went from Win98 to Win2000 at the same time .

If you want to keep it under $100. This is a very nice card to get .

If you do decide on this type of card , make sure it's a "GeForce 2 GTS 32mb" & I believe Hercules had a 64mb GTS .

 

[drjayphd]

All I saw on Newegg was the Visiontek card. Either way, it's an upgrade.